Combustion characteristics and concentration measurement of ADN-based liquid propellant with electrical ignition method in a combustion chamber

Abstract

An experimental study was performed to investigate combustion characteristics of ammonium dinitramide (ADN) based liquid propellant with electrical ignition method in a combustion chamber. The experiment was conducted in different gas atmospheres such as argon, air and nitrous oxide under an on-load voltage range of 60–100 V. The influence of the gas atmosphere, on-load voltage on the ignition delay time, peak combustion pressure, ignition energy, total energy and key reaction products mole fractions were studied. The ignition delay time of propellant decreases gradually with the increase of ignition voltage, while the ambient gas has little effect on the ignition delay time because the flame appears inside the propellant earliest. The peak combustion pressure of propellant is highest when the ambient gas is nitrous oxide, whereas lowest in argon atmosphere. The ignition energy and total energy are insensitive to gas atmosphere and decrease gradually with the increasing on-load voltage. The concentration of N2O increases with the increase of on-load voltage. The mole fraction of CO decreases with the increase of on-load voltage in general, especially obviously at relatively high on-load voltage of 100 V.